An interesting new trend of the last few years has been the ability to order groceries and have them delivered to your doorstep. Several businesses are making money by taking advantage of our increasing laziness (or busyness) and delivering high quality foodstuffs to our homes and collecting nominal delivery fees. (Lifehacker outlines more reasons why you should have your groceries delivered.)
This trend and a recent study by dunnhumby (a consumer science firm) which empirically demonstrated that streaks of price sensitivity exist among all types of consumers got me thinking about the future of pricing in the grocery delivery space.
It is common knowledge not to ask your cabin mate on your LaGuardia (NYC) to Midway (CHI) flight how much they paid for their ticket. One of you is bound to be upset. Primarily because we purchase airline tickets in an imperfect information environment, airline companies are able to charge a wide variations of prices to customers. The academic term for this is price discrimination.
I think the same possibility is lurking around the corner for grocery delivery services.
Imagine that a companies like FreshDirect begins to generate more traffic than brick-and-mortar grocers such as Piggly Wiggly. As customers begin to trust grocery delivery services more and more, their knowledge of what others are paying for groceries decreases–or at least is controlled by their primary grocery provider.
If grocery deliverers were to monitor the price sensitivity of its consumers and target each segment according to the research from the dunnhumby report, it is quite possible that a company like FreshDirect could charge your neighbor a few dollars less for the same basket of goods because they proved to be more price sensitive.
What do you think? Do you agree/disagree? Join the conversation in the comments section below.